Saturday, 11 February 2017

MUA Luxe Palette in 'Paradise'

I received this gorgeous MUA Luxe Palette in 'Paradise' in my Latest in Beauty box* back in December; it's a gorgeous selection of ten shimmery powder eyeshadows in shades of plum and copper. MUA described this as, "A collection of ten ludicrously smooth and silky eyeshadows in rose pinks, plums and browns." Sounds beautiful, right?

I really like the packaging; the glossy black plastic with golden lettering on the lid does indeed feel luxe, with the palette feeling quite sturdy and clicking closed securely. There's no space wasted with a useless foam applicator, and the palette contains a large mirror in the lid, which always comes in handy. It's a nice compact palette which would be perfect for travelling with, and would offer plenty of choice. Indeed, it's been my gym make-up bag palette of choice more often than not since I received it!

The shades range from a barely-there light pink at the left-hand side of the palette, through a selection of coppers and pinks, through to beautiful, striking purple and cranberry shades at the far right; the shadows are, as promised, silky-smooth to the touch and blend beautifully on the eyes. I really like the way shadows are all run together, rather than being in separate pans - I'm not too sure why but it's a bit different and I think it adds to the 'luxe' effect of the palette, somehow.

As you can see, a lot of the shades actually look quite similar when swatched, which is kind of a shame - however I've not found them to be quite as similar on the eyes, when you can build up the pigmentation a little more. All swatches on my arm are two swipes with my fingers, with no base. The far-left shade barely shows up as all, it's just a hint of shimmer, which is true to what I've found on the eyes - I'd only really use this as a highlight shade. Aside from that and the sixth shade across, which is a similar story, I've been really impressed with the pigmentation, and I actually don't think these swatches do them justice - they're far more striking on the eyes. (Swatching the purple over my tattoo wasn't my finest idea - sorry! I ran out of room...)

In both looks below, I've used the brown-y shade third from left all over the lid, and the cranberry shade on the far left in the outer V; the left-hand photos are without a base, and the right-hand used a base (Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'Barely Branded') - you can see that the colours come up slightly differently, with the pigmentation being stronger and more shimmery when a base is used. However, they look equally lovely with or without in my opinion - the difference lies in the longevity, as without a base these are creased almost completely off my lids by the time I get home from work, whereas with a base they're still going strong 12+ hours after application.

All in all I think this is a gorgeous palette and a really affordable price-point, and as long as you use a base beneath your shadows you should get a decent amount of wear-time from them. I've also really enjoyed using a couple of the shades on my cheekbones, where they give a lovely strong highlight - a multi-functional palette! The MUA Luxe Palette in 'Paradise' is available from MUA priced at £8, or you can include one in your own Latest in Beauty box here! Have you tried any of MUA Luxe line? What do you think of the Paradise palette?

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